It was a rapid about-face over the weekend for the Krewe of Endymion as they rescinded their invitation to a Hollywood icon who is considered as infamous as he is famous shortly after making the invitation public in the first place.
“Our inclusion of Mr. Gibson was meant to be in recognition of his acting career and was in no way meant to give credence to his statements otherwise. We regret this incident and will do better in the future,” krewe president Dan Kelly said, according to a report by Doug MacCash at NOLA.com.
It certainly didn’t take long for the social media backlash to begin after Endymion announced actor/director Mel Gibson would be this year’s co-grand marshal of one of the Crescent City’s biggest Mardi Gras superkrewes.
Related
Then, just hours after having issued a press release that Gibson, a one-time bankable moneymaker as a top-line draw after a string of blockbusters like Mad Max, Braveheart and Lethal Weapon, Endymion released another statement to the press stating that Gibson would not be a part of the 2023 parade due to unspecified threats he said they received in light of the announcement.
In the new report, Kelly remained vague about any threats received and said the decision to uninvite the actor was spurred by concerns for the safety of both krewe members and parade attendees.
Gibson’s movie career derailed years ago after reports surfaced of the actor making antisemitic and racist remarks, including to police during a traffic stop that resulted in an arrest and a DUI charge in 2006.
Though Gibson was convicted, a judge expunged the conviction from Gibson’s record in 2009 after he attended support meetings for alcoholics and completed public service work.
Four years later, Gibson was recorded by his now ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva uttering racial slurs during arguments with her. Those recordings were leaked to the press as police investigated Gibson for domestic violence.
Though Gibson pled no contest to the domestic violence charge in 2011, the conviction was vacated three years later.
Gibson pled no contest again to a second domestic violence charge involving Grigorieva in 2020 stemming from an incident 10 years earlier.
Related
